


Je Me Rappelle de Notre Sommeil

by Etoiles_Filantes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon verse, In a way, Love, M/M, Memories, Mild Gore, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 01:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10526427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etoiles_Filantes/pseuds/Etoiles_Filantes
Summary: Levi is finally allowed death, but death is not how he imagined it would be.If it is even death at all.





	

The Titan swung its arm, sending Levi flying. He could feel a few ribs crack but had no time to think about it as he hit the remains of a house. At once, one of the recruits, the other Ackerman, was with him, but she made no move to help. Instead, her eyes widened before she bit her lip and looked away. Levi looked down, only then noticing the sharp piece of wood sticking out of his stomach, a dark island in the midst of an expanding sea of red on his shirt. A small sigh escaped him, causing his lips to twitch slightly. He hadn’t realised just how much he’d longed for sleep.

He could hear the sounds of the battle only few meters away, but they didn’t matter anymore. Levi closed his eyes and thoughts of blond hair and soft smiles took their place instead, as they had done for years now. Eleven, to be precise, but who was counting. He’d been the only one left for years now, and soon he wouldn’t be there either, and everything they’d had, everything they’d been, would be forgotten. A small smile found its place on his lips before he lost all feeling and the darkness, that had slowly been creeping up, surrounded him completely and everything turned soft.

 

Levi scrunged his nose. Something was wrong. Hesitantly, he started wiggling his fingers and toes. He didn’t feel any pain, despite the fact that he’d broken several in the battle. His right hand moved down to where he’d been impaled, but instead of hard wood and blood soaked clothes, his fingers met only smooth, warm skin. For some reason, he was almost naked. And he was lying down. He was positive he’d been in a sitting position the last time he checked, when he -

Died. He’d died.

Levi’s throat produced a startled noise, and he sat up. He wasn’t where he was before – actually, the room he was in looked like nothing he’d ever seen. He was on a bed, a painting of an apple tree hanging on the wall opposite of him, curtains to his left covering what he assumed were several large windows with one half of a bed between them and him. A bed that held a body Levi had come to know better than his own.

Erwin.

Levi’s breath hitched, and he instinctively drew the comforter covering him closer. He had to be dreaming, there was no other logical conclusion. The last dream before crossing over. It made sense Erwin would be in it, didn’t it? After all, his thoughts had been of nothing – of no one – else for years, memories keeping him grounded through the seemingly endless days that had passed since he’d relieved Erwin from his duty as the demon commander, with only one last mission left before he could retire as well. He’d killed the Beast Titan, that Eren brat’s brother as it had turned out. He’d kept his promise.

Slowly, tentatively, he reached out his hand, fingers softly touching warm skin and stubble. It felt real, and Levi was grateful for that. One last good dream before oblivion was all he wanted.

Erwin let out a sigh and leaned into his touch. He wasn’t awake, Levi knew as much, as they’d done this many times before, but even in sleep he recognised him. Levi’s heart felt like it was clawing its way up his throat, the tenderness, the domesticity of it all being almost too much after all the time passed. Even though it somehow felt like only one night.

Levi’s brow knit softly in confusion. It had been years since he last saw Erwin, yet he wasn’t yearning as much as he had. He loved him; he loved him like his heart was breaking under the weight of it, but he wasn’t feeling like a man finally breaking the surface of water after a long time being held under. Even in a dream like this, he felt weird. It all felt weird. He tried to think back to the last few moments of his life, but they were but a haze in his mind, weaving in and out of other memories that confused more than comforted him.

He remembered his mother. He remembered her body being overtaken by coughs, her weight rapidly decreasing. He remembered it happening in the Underground, where there was no help to get for illnesses like that. He remembered it happening in their tiny flat in the east end of a town he grew up to find beautiful, where they couldn’t afford the medicine that could slow down the symptoms, give her the years necessary to raise a child.

He remembered Kenny. Remembered him barging into their room, taking him in, teaching him how to fight and survive. He remembered his long coat that always smelled of cigarettes and what he’d come to associate with women in the places like where he was born and that Kenny so loved. He remembered the stupid hat that somehow always protected his uncle from the waters falling from the skies.

Farlan and Isabel were there, too. And so were their deaths; devoured by the beings that controlled the world they lived in. Tall, naked, humanoid beings. Beings clad in suits and money. Levi wasn’t sure which seemed less human.

And Erwin. Always Erwin. Erwin pointing a gun at him, telling him to join his team or be brought to justice for his crimes. Erwin gripping his blade, turning his world upside down. Erwin sitting at his desk, his head in his hands, Levi wanting to do nothing more than take some of that pain from him. Erwin lying on their shared mattress on the floor of their new flat, one slightly larger and a bit further away from where they worked. Erwin writhing in pain against Levi’s chest as doctors rinsed and bandaged the wound where his arm once was. Erwin’s eyes glistening as Levi accepted the ring he held before him. Erwin riding towards the Beast that would claim his life. Erwin kissing him goodnight after a long day.

He remembered it all, and in all the ways it had happened. He didn’t understand it, but he also felt like he didn’t need to. He’d been given something new, something as fragile and precious as he’d had once before. There was no need to know why, no need to test the fates. Levi briefly wondered if Erwin remembered as well, and if not, if he should tell him. If he would be believed.

But it was a question for another time. In the present moment, Levi would do nothing more than carve the memory of his husband’s sleeping form into his memory, as he’d done before in the lives they’d had together, so that he would never forget if Erwin was one day ripped from his arms. The half decade he’d spent with only those memories keeping him warm were as present as the day of their wedding in his mind. Perhaps, this time around, they’d have longer. Levi wondered how Erwin would look as an old man. If he’d still make awful jokes and not eat properly and bury himself in work and books. He probably would, but Levi would be there to take care of him, in this life as in the one they had before, and if they were ever given more. One thing he knew for sure; if Erwin lived, Levi would be right by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> So, first fanfiction I suppose? This is basically just me trying to get over writing anxiety, but I do hope someone outside of me might find enjoyment in this <3
> 
> Title inspired from Little Dolls by Indochine.
> 
> All characters belong to Hajime Isayama.


End file.
